Skadi

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Skaði, by Frølich

In Norse mythology, Skaði (Anglicized as Skadi) is a giantess, daughter of Thjazi, wife of Njord and stepmother of Freyr and Freyja. She was also esteemed as a huntress and was known as the "Snowshoe Goddess" for her mode of conveyance through the frozen wilds.

Skadi in a Norse Context

As a Norse deity, Skadi belonged to a complex religious, mythological and cosmological belief system shared by the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples. This mythological tradition, of which the Scandinavian (and particularly Icelandic) sub-groups are best preserved, developed in the period from the first manifestations of religious and material culture in approximately 1000 B.C.E. until the Christianization of the area, a process that occurred primarily from 900-1200 C.E.[1] The tales recorded within this mythological corpus tend to exemplify a unified cultural focus on physical prowess and military might.

Within this framework, Norse cosmology postulates three separate "clans" of deities: the Aesir, the Vanir, and the Jotun. The distinction between Aesir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried and reigned together after a prolonged war, which the Aesir had finally won. In fact, the most major divergence between the two groups is in their respective areas of influence, with the Aesir representing war and conquest, and the Vanir representing exploration, fertility and wealth.[2] The Jotun, on the other hand, are seen as a generally malefic (though wise) race of giants who represented the primary adversaries of the Aesir and Vanir.

Skadi was best known in conjunction with her husband (Njord) and her step-children (Freyr and Freyja). However, her attested affiliation with hunting and hunters suggests that she may, at one time, have been a more important figure than the surviving literature suggests.

Attributes

Grímnismál

In Grímnismál, during Odin's visions of the various dwelling places of the gods he mentions that of Skadi in stanza 11:

"Thrymheim the sixth is called
where Thjazi lived, the terrible giant,
but now Skadi, shining bride of the gods,
lives in her father's ancient courts"

Lokasenna Skadi replies that if that was true, then he would get only baneful words from her, but Loki reminds her that she was gentler in speech when she invited him into her bed. This love affair is not mentioned in other sources.

Mythic Accounts

Death of Thjazi and Marriage to Njord

According to Skáldskaparmál, when the giant Thjazi was killed by the gods following his kidnapping of Idunn, his daughter Skadi journeyed to Asgard with her armour and weapons in order to avenge his death. The gods instead offered her various forms of compensation to placate her, the first of which was to choose one of the gods for a husband, but she could only make her choice by looking at their feet and nothing else. One particular pair she thought was exceptionally beautiful and chose that one, thinking it could only belong to Baldr, but it was really that of Njord, god of wind and sea, and it is for this reason that a kenning for Skadi is "god bride".

It was also in her terms of settlement that the gods were to perform the seemingly impossible task of making her laugh. Loki then tied one end of a cord around the beard of a goat and the other end around his testicles, and they began pulling each other back and forth, both squealing loudly. Then Loki fell into Skadi's lap and succeeded in making her laugh. The atonement with her was complete. As a further token of good will, Odin placed Thjazi's eyes in the night sky as stars.

Although Skadi is a giantess, she is traditionally counted among the Æsir, similar to Loki, not only because of her marriage to Njord, but also from kennings that describe her as a goddess and in various lists of Ásynjur throughout Skáldskaparmál that include her name.

Unfortunately, things did not turn out very well for Njord and Skadi as a couple. According to Gylfaginning, Skadi had wanted to live in Thrymheim, a mountain realm in Jötunheim that belonged to her father when he was alive, but Njord wished to remain by the sea in his hall of Noatun, so they tried a compromise. They agreed to spend nine nights in Thrymheim and another nine in Noatun, alternating between both, but when Njord returned to his hall he admitted his dislike of the mountains, preferring the song of the swans over the howling of wolves. Conversely, Skadi complained of not being able to sleep in Noatun because of the screaming of the seagulls. The two ultimately separated, and Skadi returned to Thrymheim. There she travels along the snow on skis and shoots game with her bow. For this reason she is also known as Öndurgud or Öndurdis ("Snowshoe Goddess").

Skadi as Secondary Character

(apparently in gylfaginning) Later, when Loki was bound in a cave as punishment for his murder of Baldr, it was Skadi who placed the venomous serpent above his head dripping poison on his face. This is repeated in the prose ending to Lokasenna.

Lokasenna In Lokasenna, Skadi is present during the feasting at the hall of Aegir and takes part in the verbal slandering instigated by Loki. After he berates Heimdall, Skadi comes to his defense and taunts Loki about him being bound in the future (the gods are gifted with prophecy) in a cave with the guts of his son. Loki then makes the claim that he was the "first and foremost" killer of her father.


Skírnismál In Skírnismál, after Freyr becomes lovestruck upon seeing the giantess Gerd for the first time, Skadi wonders why he seems upset and urges Skírnir, his messenger and servant, to speak with him to see what is the matter.


Euhemeristic Understandings of Skadi

In Ynglinga saga, Snorri speaks of Skadi in euhemeristic terms, stating that after leaving Njord she married Odin and bore him many sons, including Saeming, ancestor of a dynasty of jarls. While it may be tempting while reading the Eddas to assume that Skadi is the mother of Freyr and Freyja, Ynglinga saga states that they were the offspring of Njord and his sister, which was allowable by Vanir law before their alliance and integration with the Æsir.

Theories

It is believed by some mythologists that in the early days of Norse mythology, Skaði was venerated as a goddess of the hunt, and rivalled the goddesses Frigg and Freyja in terms of significance and popularity. However, she seems to have faded into the background during the progression of Scandinavian beliefs, and little of her survives in lore or artefact.

It is interesting to note that Skaði's name appears in the oldest place names in Scandinavia. It might therefore be that originally her name was an older one for Nerthus.

Her name could mean "damage" or "goddess of the underground world". Skaði is sometimes mentioned as the source of the name "Scandinavia".

Notes

  1. Lindow, 6-8. Though some scholars have argued against the homogenizing effect of grouping these various traditions together under the rubric of “Norse Mythology,” the profoundly exploratory/nomadic nature of Viking society tends to overrule such objections. As Thomas DuBois cogently argues, “[w]hatever else we may say about the various peoples of the North during the Viking Age, then, we cannot claim that they were isolated from or ignorant of their neighbors…. As religion expresses the concerns and experiences of its human adherents, so it changes continually in response to cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Ideas and ideals passed between communities with frequency and regularity, leading to and interdependent and intercultural region with broad commonalities of religion and worldview.” (27-28).
  2. More specifically, Georges Dumézil, one of the foremost authorities on the Norse tradition and a noted comparitivist, argues quite persuasively that the Aesir / Vanir distinction is a component of a larger triadic division (between ruler gods, warrior gods, and gods of agriculture and commerce) that is echoed among the Indo-European cosmologies (from Vedic India, through Rome and into the Germanic North). Further, he notes that this distinction conforms to patterns of social organization found in all of these societies. See Georges Dumézil's Gods of the Ancient Northmen (especially pgs. xi-xiii, 3-25) for more details.

Bibliography

  • Björnsson, Eysteinn (ed.). Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita. 2005. http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/
  • DuBois, Thomas A. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8122-1714-4.
  • Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Edited by Einar Haugen; Introduction by C. Scott Littleton and Udo Strutynski. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. ISBN 0-520-02044-8.
  • Grammaticus, Saxo. The Danish History (Volumes I-IX). Translated by Oliver Elton (Norroena Society, New York, 1905). Accessed online at The Online Medieval & Classical Library.
  • Lindow, John. Handbook of Norse mythology. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. ISBN 1-57607-217-7.
  • Munch, P. A. Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes. In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926.
  • Orchard, Andy. Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. London: Cassell; New York: Distributed in the United States by Sterling Pub. Co., 2002. ISBN 0-304-36385-5.
  • Sturlson, Snorri. The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology. Introduced by Sigurdur Nordal; Selected and translated by Jean I. Young. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1954. ISBN 0-520-01231-3.
  • Snorri Sturluson. The Prose Edda. Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916. Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/prose/index.php.
  • Turville-Petre, Gabriel. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964.
  • "Völuspá" in The Poetic Edda. Translated and with notes by Henry Adams Bellows. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1936. Accessed online at sacred-texts.com.

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da:Skade (nordisk mytologi) de:Skadi et:Skadi es:Skadi fr:Skadi hr:Skadi is:Skaði it:Skaði lt:Skadi hu:Szkádi nl:Skadi (godin) ja:スカディ no:Skade pl:Skadi pt:Skade ro:Skadi ru:Скади sh:Skadi sv:Skade

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